Join us on the porch of the Love House & Hutchins Forum for a special event featuring Rick Ward & Seth Swingle – Waraden.
Steeped in Beech Mountain and Watauga County cultural lore, Rick Ward uses a “double-knock” style of banjo picking that his grandfather, Tab Ward, perfected. Building banjos and dulcimers is a craft that passed on to Rick through his grandfather and his father, N.T. Ward. Like his father, Rick learned to make banjos and fiddles as a teenager. He also sings many of the old ballads that thrived in the Beech Mountain community, some of which he learned from his mother.
Seth Swingle – Waraden was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study the ngoni (sometimes compared to the ukelele) and the kora (a 21-string harp) with master players in Mali. He has apprenticed with Cheick Hamala Diaabate and Mike Seeger.
Read more about the musicians and hear Seth play the ngoni here.